Commonwealth Games: Australia's Gold Coast named 2018 host

SYDNEY: Australia was celebrating on Saturday as the Commonwealth Games Federation named Queensland's Gold Coast as the host of the 2018 Games, over Sri Lanka's Hambantota. "See you in Gold Coast in 2018!!!" the federation said on Twitter, following a vote of its general assembly in the Caribbean nation of St Kitts and Nevis on Friday evening local time - Saturday morning in Australia. Gold Coast, a sub-tropical tourist hotspot that is home to more than 500,000 people, promised to provide a stark contrast with last year's host, India's teeming capital New Delhi. The 2010 Delhi Games proved troubled, with the sporting headlines stolen by venue delays, shoddy construction and budget overruns that saw the cost of the event triple to US$6 billion. Australia said hosting the Commonwealth Games for the fifth time, becoming the only nation to ever do so, would allow it to showcas...